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Introduction to CAD parts management
Introduction to CAD parts management
Edouard Goutay avatar
Written by Edouard Goutay
Updated over a week ago

Managing CAD files on a local server is made very difficult by the existing links between files:

  • Large number of files that are difficult to classify, in a folder tree structure that cannot be modified without breaking the links between files, making it difficult to find and reuse existing developments.

  • Tracking revisions in the file name is impossible without breaking links, making it difficult to trace development stages.

  • Limited collaboration on a complex CAD file.

  • Impossible to track part status (draft, approved, obsolete).

  • Files cannot be converted to a neutral format (STEP) without a SolidWorks license.

  • Inability to access component where-used lists in case of modification or replacement.

🚀 With Aletiq PDM, you gain traceability, simplify collaboration and save time.

Interface overview

In Aletiq, a CAD file is called a part, which in the case of SolidWorks software for example can be :

Parts Aletiq

SolidWorks

Catia

Inventor

an assembly

.sldprt

.CATProduct

.iam

a component

.sldasm

.CATPart

.ipt

a drawing

.slddrw

.CATDrawing

.idw

To access your parts, click on Files then Parts in the application's top menu. This takes you to a page displaying all the parts to which you have access. Here, you can navigate between views, filter parts or perform a search.

From any line in the table, you can open the detail pane of a part to display all its information.

Manage BOM and use cases

Aletiq automatically reconstructs assembly parts lists and dependencies on other drawing parts by reading the CAD BOM directly from the CAD file:

  • CAD BOM = BOM from CAD file

  • Part BOM = BOM between Aletiq parts

The part BOM may be incomplete if some component CAD files have not been uploaded to the platform. It is also possible to ignore environmental components that are not part of the part BOM.

Manage parts evolutions

In Aletiq, a part carries several revisions which can be viewed independently of each other.

To view a part's revisions, go to the Revisions tab in the part's detail pane. Here you will see the successive revisions with :

  • revision index (revision name)

  • description of changes made in this revision

  • revision status (draft, approved or obsolete)

It is then possible to make parts evolve without multiplying the number of files in the database.

But how do the dependencies between assembly / drawing revisions work?

  1. A validated revision of an assembly / drawing can only contain validated component revisions.

  2. A draft revision of an assembly / drawing contains the latest revisions of its components.

Access to parts for teams without licenses

All collaborators can view parts managed in Aletiq, even without a CAD license. Simply click on the Visualize button in the parts table.

Aletiq 3D visualization enables you to :

  • Show/hide the different components of an assembly

  • Explode the view to understand the assembly

  • Display front and side views...

Users without a CAD license can also export parts in STEP from native formats for exchange with partners, customers and suppliers.

To go beyond

To switch from managing parts to managing associated products, you can create products instead of parts.


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